Protecting Our Communities

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I don’t think it is too late to wish everybody a safe and happy New Year. One of my resolutions for 2017 was to write a regular update about policing in East Leicester, and to keep it, I have prepared this.

In the months since I have arrived I have been impressed by the hard work and dedication of the officers and staff who police East Leicester. I must also stress that we are supported by the community at large and in particular many agencies who do their best to ensure that the communities in East Leicester are safe and well.

BEM for Reg Varney

In my time as a police officer I have worked with many different people, some remain in the memory for only a short time, and others remain indelibly printed on your brain. It would be fair to say that PC Reg (Brian) Varney is in the latter category, and it would not be overstating the case to say that he is a ‘legend’, not only on the St Matthews Estate, but right across Leicestershire Police.

When I received the news that Reg was to be honoured in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list with a British Empire Medal (BEM) I was absolutely delighted. This is as a result of his service to the community of St Matthews who regard him as one of their own. To many he is simply known as ‘Ali Dhiri’ (I hope I have spelt that right), I understand in English that means the ‘tall one’. He certainly is tall, taller than me that is.

Day in and day out Reg embodies what being a police officer is all about, and he is never less than enthusiastic about what ever task he has been given. Reg was interviewed about the award and he was very quick to pay tribute to the team at East Leicester, his family, but most importantly the community.

From the many comments I have already had from many sections of the communities in East Leicester, there are a lot of people who are delighted for Reg, and we are very proud that one of our own has been honoured in this way.

I shall be writing to Buckingham Palace to make sure the Queen knows what to expect when Reg attends his investiture!

Tackling neighbourhood issues in Belgrave

In the run up to Christmas, the Belgrave policing team undertook an operation to tackle vehicle related issues in and around Doncaster Road. The DVLA and Leicster City Council were also involved. During the course of the day 14 cars were clamped for not having valid road tax, with a further four removed by the DVLA’s national wheel clamping partner, NSL, who clamp or impound any untaxed vehicles seen on the road.

Leicester City Council Civil Enforcement Officers issued fixed penalty notices to 13 vehicles that were parked illegally and ten drivers were warned for illegal parking. A total of 14 fly tipping incidents were reported and investigated by Leicester City Council City Wardens, which included eight fixed penalty notices that were issued in relation to bird-feeding and littering.

Police officers seized two vehicles for having no valid insurance, and issued five fixed penalty notices for causing an unnecessary obstruction.

This operation was undertaken as a result of a number of complaints by local people in the Belgrave area and will be repeated regularly. It was organised by PC Anil Mehta who is one of the neighbourhood officers and he told me that the feedback from people in the area had been overwhelmingly positive.

At the time of writing this update the team are undertaking another enforcement day, and I will give you an update in the next edition.

Staff moves
At the beginning of the year we said good bye to PC Lesley Marriott who has moved from our Stoneygate team to the policing team at Loughborough. Lesley had been here for 14 years and we were very sorry to see her go. Lesley, like Reg, had done some much for local people and is a ‘can do’ person who got the job done. She will be sadly missed here and will undoubtedly be a great asset to the team at Loughborough. I am sure you would want to join me in wishing her all the very best as she begins a new phase in her career.

Kayleigh’s love story
Many of you will be familiar with the tragic story of Kayleigh Haywood, a teenage girl from Measham in North West Leicestershire, who was raped and murdered in 2015 after being groomed online. Leicestershire Police has made a hard hitting film about Kayleigh. It was launched last year and has been shown to over 35,000 school children in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

The full film is now available.

We have also had versions in different languages made, which can be found by visiting these links

The film is part of our CEASE campaign, the Commitment to Eradicate Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of children and young people. Since we launched this campaign in February this year over 21,000 people have signed a pledge to look out for the signs that a child or young person may be in danger of abuse and exploitation.